Costa Mesa Real Estate Market Report For 2016

02 Jan Costa Mesa Real Estate Market Report For 2016

As we look at the Costa Mesa real estate market for 2016 we can conclude it was a very strong year for Costa Mesa. Costa Mesa is one of the strongest markets in all of Orange County as it is: close to the beach, provides great shopping, has two world class country club golf courses, has a university and Jr Collage (which is one of the best in the nation), and the city is next to all the major freeways in Southern California.

Costa Mesa is on the verge of being one of the most affluent cities in Orange County. The only thing holding Costa Mesa back (in my opinion) are the schools. Once the schools go from an average score of 6-7 to a 9 score I think we will see prices jump even more rapidly then they did this year. Below is the year over year report along with some of my thoughts.

Median Sales Price

As you can see from the graph, the median home price went from $700,000 in December 2015 to $729,500 in December 2016. It was quite a roller coster as prices had a sharp decline the first half of the year. At its lowest the median price was $656,000! Thus, in six months the market swung up $73,500 – or 11%! Even with the crazy drop and recovery Costa Mesa saw a rise of only 4% in the median price.

Price Per Square Foot

Just like the Median Price graph we see a dip in the first part of the year then straight up like a rocket during the second part. The Costa Mesa Real Estate price per square foot [PPSF] during December of 2015 was trading at $449. Now (December of 2016) it’s at $484 PPSF. This is an increase of nearly 8% year over year! What a crazy swing.

Looking Forward:

Looking forward to the 2017 Costa Mesa Real Estate Market, I think we will see a slight to no rise in values.

Conclusion:

Costa Mesa is an awesome city. But with its below average schools it’s hard to see this kind of rise again next year. With rates going up I could see this city being one of the cities that suffers the most as it is less desirable than some other surrounding cities with better schools and around the same price (I.E. Huntington Beach). I do think; however, that the trend will be up over the next 5-7 years. There has been some rumors that Costa Mesa is going to change its name to “Newport Mesa”. If that happens I think we will see an explosion in prices to the upside. It might be smart to get in now and wait for such an event. Because if that happened you would see schools start to get more funding (in my opinion) thus making them better rather quickly. If you’re a buyer this could be worth the slower short term appreciation.

Written by Malakai Sparks who is the owner and principle of The Malakai Sparks Group of Keller Williams Realty.